BIPOLAR JUNCTION

TRANSISTORS (BJT)
Lecture_3
 INTRODUCTION
 The transistor is the main building block “element” of electronics.

 The word Transistor is an acronym, and is a combination of the words Transfer Varistor used to
describe their mode of operation.

 It is a semiconductor device and it comes in two general types:

 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) and

 Field Effect Transistor (FET)

 If we join together two individual diodes back-to-back, this will give us two PN-junctions connected
together in series that share a common P or N terminal.

 The fusion of these two diodes produces a three layer, two junction, three terminal device forming the
basis of a Bipolar Transistor, or BJT for short.
■ There are two basic types of bipolar transistor construction, NPN and PNP, which
basically describes the physical arrangement of the P-type and N-type semiconductor
materials from which they are made.

■ The Bipolar Transistor basic construction consists of two PN-junctions producing three
connecting terminals with each terminal being given a name to identify it from the other
two.

■ These three terminals are known and labelled as the Emitter ( E ), the Base ( B ) and
the Collector ( C ) respectively.
■ One type consists of two n regions separated by a p region (npn), and the other type
consists of two p regions separated by an n region (pnp).

■ The term bipolar refers to the use of both holes and electrons as current carriers in the
transistor structure.
■ The pn junction joining the base region and the emitter region is called the base-emitter
junction.

■ The pn junction joining the base region and the collector region is called the base-collector
junction.

■ A wire lead connects to each of the three regions and these leads are labeled E, B, and C for
emitter, base, and collector, respectively.
■ The emitter region is heavily doped and its job is to emit carriers into the base.
■ The base region is very thin and lightly doped. Most of the current carriers injected into the
base from emitter pass on to the collector.
■ The collector region is moderately doped and is the largest of all three regions.
■ Bipolar Transistors are current regulating devices that control the amount of current
flowing through them in proportion to the amount of biasing voltage applied to their base
terminal acting like a current-controlled switch.

■ The principle of operation of the two transistor types NPN and PNP, is exactly the same
the only difference being in their biasing and the polarity of the power supply for each
type.
 Working of a pnp transistor
Unbiased pnp transistor
■ When no voltage is applied to a pnp transistor, it is said to be an unbiased pnp transistor.

■ At the left side p-region (emitter) and right side p-region (collector), holes are the majority
carriers and free electrons are the minority carriers whereas in n-region (base), free electrons are
the majority carriers and holes are the minority carriers.
 Operation
■ The charge carriers (free electrons and holes) always try to move from higher concentration region to lower
concentration region.

■ The holes, p-region is the higher concentration region and n-region is the lower concentration region. Similarly,
for free electrons, n-region is the higher concentration region and p-region is the lower concentration region.

■ Therefore, the holes at the left side p-region (emitter) and right side p-region (collector) experience a repulsive
force from each other. As a result, the holes at the left side and right side p-regions (emitter and collector) will
move into the n-region (base).

■ During this process, the holes meet the free electrons in the n-region (base) and recombines with them. As a
result, depletion region (positive and negative ions) is formed at the emitter to base junction and base to
collector junction.
■ At emitter to base junction, the depletion region is penetrated more towards the base side,
similarly; at base to collector junction, the depletion region is penetrated more towards the base
side.

■ This is because at emitter to base junction, the emitter is heavily doped and base is lightly doped
so the depletion region is penetrated more towards the base side and less towards the emitter
side.

■ Similarly, at base to collector junction, the collector is heavily doped and base is lightly doped so
the depletion region is penetrated more towards the base side and less towards the collector side.

■ The collector region is lightly doped than the emitter region, so the depletion layer width at the
collector side is more than the depletion layer width at emitter side.
Biased pnp transistor
■ When external voltage is applied to a pnp transistor, it is said to be a biased pnp transistor

■ Depending on the polarity of the applied voltage, the pnp transistor can be operated in
three modes: active mode, cutoff mode and saturation mode.

■ The pnp transistor is often operated in active mode because in active mode the pnp
transistor amplifies the electric current.
Active mode
■ In active mode pnp transistor, the emitter-base junction is forward biased by the DC voltage VEE and
base-collector junction is reverse biased by the DC voltage VCC.

■ Due to the forward bias, a large number of holes in the left side p-region (emitter) experience a repulsive
force from the positive terminal of the DC battery and also they experience an attractive force from the
negative terminal of the battery. Then holes start flowing from emitter to base.
■ In the similar way, free electrons in base experience a repulsive force from the negative terminal of
the battery and also experience an attractive force from the positive terminal of the battery. As a
result, the free electrons start flowing from base to emitter.

■ The majority carriers holes carry most of the current from emitter to base. Thus, the electric current
flows from emitter to base.

■ This electric current flow reduces the width of the depletion region at emitter-base junction.

■ Base-collector junction: Due to the reverse bias, a large number of holes in the right side n-region
(collector) experience an attractive force from the negative terminal of the battery.

■ Hence, the holes move away from the junction and flow towards the negative terminal of the battery.
As a result, a large number of neutral collector atoms gains electrons and becomes negative ions.
■ On the other hand, free electrons in the n-region (base) experience an attractive force from
the positive terminal of the battery. Hence, the free electrons move away from the junction
and flow towards the positive terminal of the battery. As a result, a large number of neutral
base atoms loses electrons and becomes positive ions.

■ Thus, the width of depletion region increases at base-collector junction. In other words, the
number of positive and negative ions increases at the base-collector junction.
 Emitter-base-collector current:
■ The holes that are flowing from emitter to base due to forward bias will combines with the free
electrons in the base.

■ However, the base is very thin and lightly doped. So only, a small percentage of emitter holes will
combine with the free electrons in the base region.

■ The remaining large number of holes will cross the base region and reaches to the collector region.
This is due to the negative supply voltage applied at collector. Hence, the holes flow from emitter to
collector.

■ At collector, both the emitter holes and collector holes produces current by flowing towards the
negative terminal of the battery. Therefore, an amplified current is produced at the output.

■ In pnp transistor, the electric current is majorly conducted by holes.

■ The emitter current IE consists of hole current IpE (majority carriers holes crossing from emitter

into base) and electron current I nE (majority carriers electrons crossing from base into emitter).

■ Therefore the total emitter current I E is the sum of hole current IpE and electron current InE
■ The ratio of hole to electron currents, IpE / InE, crossing the emitter junction is proportional to the ratio of
the conductivity of the p material to that of the n material. We know that conductivity is directly
proportional to the doping level. If doping level is more, conductivity is more similarly if doping level is
less, conductivity is less.

■ The doping of the emitter is made much larger than the doping of the base. Hence, in a pnp transistor
the emitter current consists almost entirely of holes.

■ The holes crossing the emitter junction JE and reaching the collector junction JC constitutes hole current
IpC in collector.

■ Not all the holes crossing the emitter junction JE reaches the collector junction JC, because some of
them combine with the electrons in the n-type base.
■ We know that base is very thin and lightly doped. So only a small number of holes combine with the electrons in the

n-type base, constituting the base current IPE - IPC. The remaining large number of holes cross the base region and

enters into the collector region, constituting the hole current IpC in collector region.

■ Consider, for the moment, an open circuited emitter, while the collector junction remains reverse biased. When

emitter is open circuited, the emitter current is zero IE = 0 and therefore hole current in collector is also zero IpC = 0.

■ In such condition, the collector-base junction JC acts as a reverse biased diode and the collector current IC is equal

to the reverse saturation current or reverse saturation collector current ICO.

■ Now let us return to the situation where the emitter is forward biased.

■ When the emitter junction JE is forward biased and collector junction JC is reverse biased, the total collector current IC

will be the sum of hole current in collector IpC and reverse saturation collector current ICO.
Cutoff mode
■ In the cutoff mode, both the junctions of the transistor (emitter to base and collector to
base) are reverse biased.

■ In other words, if we assume two p-n junctions as two p-n junction diodes, both the
diodes are reverse biased in cutoff mode. We know that in reverse bias condition, no
current flows through the device.

■ Hence, no current flows through the transistor. Therefore, the transistor is in off state and
acts like an open switch.
Saturation mode
■ In the saturation mode, both the junctions of the transistor (emitter to base and collector to base)
are forward biased.

■ In other words, if we assume two p-n junctions as two p-n junction diodes, both the diodes are
forward biased in saturation mode.

■ We know that in forward bias condition, current flows through the device. Hence, electric current
flows through the transistor.
■ In saturation mode, free electrons (charge carriers) flows from emitter to base as well as
from collector to base. As a result, a huge current will flow to the base of transistor.

■ Therefore, the transistor in saturation mode will be in on state and acts like a closed switch.

■ The saturation mode of the transistor is used in switching operation for switch ON
application.

■ From the above discussion, we can say that by operating the transistor in saturation and
cutoff region, we can use the transistor as an ON/OFF switch.
Summary
 BJT Configuration
■ As the Bipolar Transistor is a three terminal device, there are basically three possible ways to connect
it within an electronic circuit with one terminal being common to both the input and output.

■ In every configuration, the base-emitter junction J E is always forward biased and the collector-base
junction JC is always reverse biased to operate the transistor as a current amplifier.

■ Each method of connection responding differently to its input signal within a circuit as the static
characteristics of the transistor vary with each circuit arrangement

1. Common Base Configuration

2. Common Emitter Configuration.
3. Common Collector Configuration
Common Base (CB) Configuration
■ In common base configuration, emitter is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal, and base
is the common terminal.

■ The base terminal is grounded in the common base configuration. So the common base configuration
is also known as grounded base configuration.

■ The input current flowing into the emitter is quite large as its the sum of both the base current and
collector current respectively therefore, the collector current output is less than the emitter current
input resulting in a current gain for this type of circuit of "1" (unity) or less, in other words the common
base configuration "attenuates" the input signal.
■ The base-emitter junction JE at input side acts as a forward biased diode. So the common base
amplifier has a low input impedance (low opposition to incoming current).

■ On the other hand, the collector-base junction JC at output side acts somewhat like a reverse
biased diode. So the common base amplifier has high output impedance.

■ Therefore, the common base amplifier provides a low input impedance and high output
impedance.

■ Transistors with low input impedance and high output impedance provide a high voltage gain.

■ This type of transistor arrangement is not very common due to its unusually high voltage gain
characteristics.
Input-output characteristics
■ To fully describe the behavior of a transistor with CB configuration, we need two set of characteristics:
• Input characteristics
• Output characteristics.

■ Input characteristics

■ The input characteristics describe the relationship between input current (IE) and the input voltage (VBE).

■ To determine the input characteristics, the output voltage VCB (collector-base voltage) is kept constant at
zero volts and the input voltage VBE is increased from zero volts to different voltage levels. For each
voltage level of the input voltage (VBE), the input current (IE) is recorded.

■ A curve is then drawn between input current IE and input voltage VBE at constant output voltage VCB (0
volts).
■ Next, the output voltage (VCB) is increased from zero volts to a certain voltage level (8 volts) and kept constant at 8
volts. While increasing the output voltage (VCB), the input voltage (VBE) is kept constant at zero volts. After we kept
the output voltage (VCB) constant at 8 volts, the input voltage VBE is increased from zero volts to different voltage
levels.

■ When output voltage (VCB) is at zero volts and emitter-base junction JE is forward biased by the input voltage (VBE),
the emitter-base junction acts like a normal p-n junction diode. So the input characteristics are same as the forward
characteristics of a normal pn junction diode.

■ So from the below graph, we can see that after 0.7 volts, a small increase in input voltage (VBE) will rapidly increase
the input current (IE).

■ When the output voltage (VCB) is increased from zero volts to a certain voltage level (8 volts), the emitter current
flow will be increased which in turn reduces the depletion region width at emitter-base junction. As a result, the cut in
voltage will be reduced. Therefore, the curves shifted towards the left side for higher values of output voltage VCB.
Output characteristics

■ The output characteristics describe the relationship between output current (I C) and the output

voltage (VCB).

■ To determine the output characteristics, the input current or emitter current I E is kept constant

at zero mA and the output voltage VCB is increased from zero volts to different voltage levels.

For each voltage level of the output voltage VCB, the output current (IC) is recorded.

■ When the emitter current or input current IE is equal to 0 mA, the transistor operates in the cut-
off region.
■ Next, the input current (IE) is increased from 0 mA to 1 mA by adjusting the input
voltage VBE and the input current IE is kept constant at 1 mA. While increasing the input
current IE, the output voltage VCB is kept constant.

■ From the above characteristics, we can see that for a constant input current IE, when
the output voltage VCB is increased, the output current IC remains constant.

■ At saturation region, both emitter-base junction JE and collector-base junction JC are

forward biased. From the above graph, we can see that a sudden increase in the
collector current when the output voltage VCB makes the collector-base junction JC
forward biased.
1. collector current( Ic ) varies with Vcb only on the starting or when the collector base
voltage (Vcb) is below 1v. Transistor never operated below this voltage.

2. After voltage (Vcb) increase above 1-2 V, you can see collector current (Ic ) becomes
a straight horizontal line. That mean collector current becomes constant above 1-2 V.
It means collector current is independent of collector base voltages and depends
upon the emitter current only. This proves that the emitter current almost flows to
collector current. The transistor is always operated on this region.

3. the large change in collector base voltage there is a small change in collector current.
That means output resistance of the circuit is very high.